life

Getting ready for Spring! (and beyond!)

So for now, I am going to keep this update relatively short, because A LOT is going on. But I know that with the way I am, if I kept waiting to write a proper post, then it would have taken me forever to get that done. So here are the cliff notes as to what has been going on:

1-I am booked for a speaking engagement next month in Harlem to discuss historical costuming, the roles and contributions of Black dressmakers (particularly Elizabeth Keckley) in historical fashion, and showcasing some of my ensembles! When I say that my flabbers were gasted when I received the call about it! I am so excited for this!!! And of course, VERY very nervous. I hope I don’t curse or babble on stage! When I have the official promotional material and such, I will share.

2-THIS upcoming weekend, I will be heading to Albany, NY to attend the Crown Tournament of Ryouko’jin and Indrakshi (who are AWESOME people, and this will be their second reign in the SCA), but I will also be officially taken on as an apprentice to my longtime friend, Duchess Isabella, who has reigned as Queen of the East Kingdom twice thus far. I have admired and respected her since I first joined the SCA, which was something like 13 years ago. She has always encouraged me and pushed me to step outside of my comfort zone and expand my skills when it comes to costuming and service to the Kingdom. I will readily admit that I was speechless when she presented this opportunity to me. She has not taken on an apprentice in upwards of 20-something years, so this is a BIG DEAL for me, and I hope that I do her and my apprentice-siblings proud.

Over the next couple of days, I will be working on finishing my ensemble (16th c. Persian-which my persona is based on), and I cannot wait to share the process and the final look with you.

3-Since coming back from France and with the new opportunities and events that are unfolding in my lap, I had quite a few friends convince me to start another GoFundMe to help contribute and offset the costs that go along with my historical costuming journey. Things such as travel/accommodations for events, fabrics & materials, and the tools/equipment to document and share my projects and research will benefit from this new GoFundMe.

Support my GoFundMe here!

As some of you know, although I am a professional photographer who has had my business for 16 years – Marisa Taylor Photography, I am also disabled due to multiple chronic illnesses. So I have had to scale back how much physical work I do when it comes to photography (weddings being the main aspect), because I just can’t physically hold up to doing them longer than 2-4 hours. And then the recovery time after has gotten days longer compared to how it was before. For me, being down for the count for so long doesn’t do anyone any good, especially my family. It is a really hard thing to grow your business and watch it blossom, while knowing that you’ve already reached your peak and have to withdraw from it little by little. But that does not mean I am giving up photography forever, NOR does it mean I am giving it up at all. I am focusing my business on smaller, intimate weddings & elopements, along with my normal portrait photography, as well as my fine art print site!

You can check my site out here: https://www.marisataylorphotography.com/PrintSite/

I do think that that is all for now, or until I remember that I need to come back and update this with something else!

OH WAIT! (see, my brain loves to do the “OH SQUIRREL!” thing). Although I have had my youtube channel for YEARS now, I only recently started uploading more content to it, and try to do so on a consistent basis. If you are a Youtube user, I would greatly appreciate it if you could give my page a follow! Youtube – TheMarisaZimmerman

Until next time my friends!

Back from France!

And oh my god, I don’t even have the words other than “freaking amazing!” I’ve been back a week now, and today is the first day where I feel that I have enough energy to dive back into my normal routine, in addition to cleaning and organizing the chaos that was caused during the reconstruction process, when a second pipe not only bursts when the heat was turned back on, 8 other cracks were found in the piping. PLUS, having to purchase a completely new furnace. It was A LOT. And thankfully my husband, who knows me so well, decided it was best not to tell me while I was away because I would have freaked out, my anxiety would be through the roof, so yeah…he was right!

There is so much to share about the trip, and about the project that I worked on while at the residency. Which means of course there are tons of pictures and videos that I need to edit and share. I’ve already started sharing some photo posts & reels over on my Instagram, if you want to take a look.

I am also getting back to doing the wax-sealed letters. I know that some of you have been expecting your packages, and believe me when I saw that between being overwhelmed and trying to prepare for the trip while living out of a suitcase in a hotel, coupled with executive dysfunction: it all kicked my ass, and I dropped the ball. So I deeply apologize for that. So some of you will be receiving letters and others, depending on your tier, a package or two with gifts along with the letters.

But check out this photo of me in front of the glass pyramids at The Louvre! A street photographer came up to me asking to take a couple of photos, and I was honored!!!

It’s time for an update!!!

(Cross-posting from my GoFundMe update)

Hello hello everyone! (Marisa here!) It has been quite an interesting time since I last updated, which was FOUR MONTHS AGO! Yikes!!! That means the last time that I updated was just before school ended. And while I definitely could not believe that summer rolled up on me super fast, I am more baffled that my trip to France is coming up AT THE END OF JANUARY! cue internal and external screaming

This summer was filled with picnics, trips to the park, Pennsic (of course), birthday parties (my daughter officially became a teenager!), lots and LOTS of sewing, photography, and so much more. I am trying hard to fall back into a daily routine because, without it, I am wrecked! There is still so much to do to prepare for this trip, and to be honest, I am freaking out about it all! And I promise that I will do a much better job of keeping everyone updated! So here we go!

You will see that we updated the goal amount. The original goal was fully funded, and the way my heart will forever be appreciative is an understatement!!! So now, any additional donations will go straight to the travel costs, food (the residency provides a light lunch and dinner every day, but of course, you want to have your own food), money for incidentals, sewing supplies, print supplies, admission costs for attractions and exhibits, and things of that sort. Many of you know that I have NEVER traveled internationally, so this is a lot!!! Ahhhhh!!!! (sorry! Expect to read a lot of “screaming” and a ton of exclamation points over the next few months).

If you’ve been here from the beginning, or read the initial post, the main reason why my husband put this together is because he knows how I am about money and how I beat myself up for not being able to work as much thanks to having multiple chronic illnesses. He also knew that I would continuously kick myself if I didn’t at least try. So while this month has been my 16th year as a business owner of Marisa Taylor Photography, I have scaled back A LOT over the past year as to not over-exert myself and cause even MORE issues. And of course that bums me out, a lot actually, for multiple reasons…but I am going to keep on pushing on!

So, I have created a page on my website in which you can purchase some of my work as prints (printed on fine art luster-coated paper and mounted), or wall art (canvases, standout prints, metal /acrylic prints), and that site is: https://www.marisataylorphotography.com/art-prints-for-sale – It’s still under construction, but it will be finished VERY soon, and I of course will make another update here. I will also be working on wooden paint-dipped earrings, as well as pour art canvases to sell.

I still have my Patreon available, with different tiers that you can subscribe to. One of them even includes monthly and semi-monthly wax-sealed letters and gifts (which will be starting back up again for November): https://patreon.com/TheMarisaZimmerman1

As always, anything that you can give matters, but please do not feel forced to donate! Even if you share to spread the word around, that totally matters. Word of mouth is the best!

You can also donate directly using cashapp/venmo/paypal, which is pictured as well.

And I do believe that is about it! For now at least! I of course have like 100 things to tackle tonight, but this is one of the things that I have been pushing back for a while now.

As always, hugs and thank you!!!